About Denise Lockwood
DENISE LOCKWOOD
4622 Lora St. • Racine, WI 53402
Phone: (262) 639-6475 Cell: (262) 880-7368
E-MAIL: Deniselockwood@yahoo.com
Twitter: @Denise1970
SUMMARY
Telling a good story isn't enough these days. Writers today need to produce content that captures the attention of an audience and that is what my career has been focused on for the past 10 years. I am flexible, dedicated to learning, and passionate about my work. I enjoy digging for news, asking hard questions, and writing credible and compelling stories that help people.
PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Well written news stories begin by developing rapport with people. Over the span of my career, I have connected with people, gained their trust and uncovered numerous stories. I have also developed skills that have served me well including: having a strong news sense, writing and editing, project management, multimedia reporting and web content development.
"NEWS SENSE"
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Created news budgets with compelling stories that brought insight and knowledge to the reader.
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Cultivated new relationships in spite of people’s apprehensiveness to talk.
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Pitched and wrote enterprise reporting stories on organ donation, the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex, update on a plane crash to a regional magazine and the Milwaukee County burial assistance program for the Milwaukee Magazine.
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Currently working on a web content design project using digital storytelling about crime in a local neighborhood where flash mobs and not snitching are a daily occurrence.
INTERVIEWING
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Used open-ended behavioral-based interview questions to draw out context and detail.
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Challenged sources when needed and confronted inconsistencies.
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Researched numerous topics including Wisconsin’s welfare to work program, the Clean Water Act, education finance, and Wisconsin’s sexual offender laws.
WRITING/EDITING
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Used a variety of different storytelling techniques to write compelling and factual stories.
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Wrote a series on Wisconsin’s Welfare to Work program, its intent, expectations, and anticipated future. ¨
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Collaborated with editors, colleagues and photographers to look at new ways to shape stories using multi-media resources.
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Strong knowledge of AP Style.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
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Successfully managed numerous long-term project stories that were credible, allowed for flexibility, and met deadlines.
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Used organizational skills to coordinate logistics and work with copy editors and freelance writers in fulfilling a wide-range of projects and met deadlines.
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Covered major immigration protest with two hours notice, which required intense research and completed the story on deadline.
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Helped build and manage databases for proprietary knowledge about companies and candidates.
MULTIMEDIA
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Shot photographs, edited them using Picnik.com, built slide shows and produced video-based stories.
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Marketed my own stories and video projects using face book, utterli, newsvine, fark, and other social media sites.
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Increased traffic to my websites using social media tools.
WEB CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
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Wrote website proposals for several news websites.
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Spearheaded a web content development project for the Kenosha News website, which included developing and implementing a police news page. The site includes an interactive Google map, police tips and is customizable for the user.
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Created and designed my own special interest website called Your Mental Health Matters Metro Milwaukee! The site focuses on providing news and information about mental health resources in Milwaukee.
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Strong understanding of digital storytelling design techniques including Flash and Final Cut Pro.
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Conducted extensive research about audience engagement, web portal design and the use of narrative in web content.
EXPERIENCE
The Kenosha News, Kenosha Wisconsin
2007-2008; and March 2009 to present
General assignment reporter
Community Newspapers
2001, 2004-2007
General assignment reporter
Southern Lakes Newspapers
2001-2004
Editor
Milwaukee Magazine, Prime, Southern Lakes Newspapers, Conley Publishing and the Daily Reporter
Various
Freelance writer
Knoff Consulting
1997-2001
Project manager and research assistant for executive recruiting fir.
Management Recruiters
1993-1997
Research assistant
EDUCATION
2009 to present University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, WI
Graduate certificate in Professional Writing and Communications with an emphasis in web content development
2008 Poynter Institute St. Petersburg, FL
Multimedia reporting, which included shooting and editing video, designing slide shows, media ethics, and social media.
1999 University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, WI
B.S. Mass Communications-Print Journalism
AWARDS
Wisconsin Newspaper Association “Better Newspapers” contest
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2009 First place, team coverage on tornado special section
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2007 First place, Local education reporting; Second place, Business Coverage; Second place, Enterprise Reporting.
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2003 Third place, Interpretive reporting.
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2002 Third place, Government reporting; Third place, Local Education Reporting.
WRITING SAMPLES
Mix up confounds immigration and police officials, Kenosha News (Might need to scroll down because of formatting issues on this site)
http://www.kenoshanews.com/scripts/edoris/edoris.dll?tem=lsearchart&search_iddoc=8153208
The Maze, Milwaukee Magazine, January 2010
http://www.milwaukeemagazine.com/currentissue/full_feature_story.asp?newmessageid=25324
Grafton mom pushes for more suicide resources in school, originally published in the Ozaukee News Graphic, 2009
http://knowmore.typepad.com/know_more/2009/09/grafton-mom-pushes-for-more-suicide-resources-in-school.html
Heidi's Heart, originally published in the Westine Report, 2009
http://knowmore.typepad.com/know_more/2009/08/heides-heart.html
WEB CONTENT
http://kenoshanews.com/police_reports/
TECHNOLOGY
MS Office, Word, Excel, Power Point, InDesign, Audacity, FinalCut Pro, Slideshow Pro, Flash, and PhotoShop.
